The girls who worked here are insanely sweet, if a bit confused at times. I shared two of the vegetarian combos with a friend (equal to ten items). We ended up getting two of the mushroom stew and two of the red lentils (both are fantastic), so we didn't order either of the cold items. Next time, we both agreed that we'd also forgo the zucchini and carrots, which were covered in an odd, ghostbuster-like slime, and order more of the collard greens. Overall the food here was excellent, the service was attentive, and I love the cozy atmosphere, complete with fireplace. Note: It seems that whatever problems they were having with the liquor license have been resolved as I was able to order one of my favorite beers (the stout). read more

Frozen rice? WTH?? Well, this was what we got when we came in for dinner last Friday. They were understaffed, according to one of the servers but that should not be a reason to serve frozen rice!!! When we ordered, we told the server we had a groupon coupon. We ordered the a chicken dish, a fish dish, and a vegetable dish. We got our orders and it looked like 1/2 or 1/3 the size of what a regular order should be. Umm...just because we used a coupon doesn't mean we should be treated differently. Finally when we were ready to pay, we waited about 15-20 minutes to get our bill. Also, as the server was wiping the table, she kept pushing the pieces of rice on me. Yes, she apologized but at that point, I've just had enough. I love Ethiopian food but we will never come back to this restaurant. We were trying to support other Ethiopian restaurants but this just made me realize I should just stick to what I know. Red Sea is still the best! read more

I enjoyed a good, and inexpensive meal at this little hole-in-the-wall. The front room is quite small, and a little awkwardly designed (one table blocked half the routes to the bathrooms), but I found it charming in a no-frills / little pretense kind of way. The decour seemed a bit slapdash too in a way that made me assume the business is run by a family, and maybe that part isn't their forte, or they don't have money for an expensive remodel. The net effect for me was that I felt very comfortable in the unpretentious environment. The two waitresses on duty were bustling about pretty quickly, and were quite friendly and helpful, if a little brusque at points. I ordered the vegetarian combo, which arrived lukewarm, but was quite tasty and generously-sized. I drank water and my entire bill, including 20% tip, was $14. Not bad! I feel like I got a good value for my money. read more

This is my first review on yelp, and its a long time coming. I've tried a lot of Ethiopian places in the East Bay and other cities, and this one is by far my favorite! My boyfriend and I must come here about once a week, we are addicted. The injera is awesomely sour and flavorful and I love that you can mix and match from I think 12 (?) different veggie items on the menu for the veggie combo. Compared with the food at Ethiopia restaurant a lot of other places seem lacking in flavor to me. We have never tried the meat dishes here but friends we've brought here definitely enjoyed them. And it is SO CHEAP!!! We are scared they might go out of business because they continually offer crazy cheap deals on Groupon, and their food is already a great deal. We usually end up with leftovers for both of us to have lunch the next day. And the $6.99 buffet... totally hits the spot when you want a big hearty vegan lunch! EAT HERE!!! read more

5th+ time here this evening, consistently great food. Two blocks from my girlfriend house, this place is so much more than just a convenience; friendly staff, a wide ranging menu and great prices. One of my favorite places in Berkeley! read more

This restaurant was by far the worst Ethiopian restaurant we have been to. Service: On a Thursday evening, there were not many patrons. There was one waitress, and we had to ask for our waters to be refilled. Food options: 2 options on appetizers. Food quality: we ordered a family style dinner for 4. Two gored gored which are traditionally served and eaten raw, 1 kitfo, also traditionally raw, and a yebeg-tibs. The gored gored was thoroughly cooked, the kitfo was poorly seasoned and bland, and the yebeg-tibs were dry and almost repulsive. We ordered the 100% teff injera which wasn't properly fermented and was tasteless. The desserts were partly frozen on arrival which likely meant they were purchased in bulk/not freshly made. The only reason we didn't leave the food and the restaurant was because we found this place on Groupon and had already paid for the meal- a disappointment, to say the least. read more

If you get the Groupon, it is a really good deal. 2 entrees, appetizer, 2 glasses of wine, and dessert for $25. With tax and tip came out to under 35$ and it was plenty of food for the whole family. Be mindful that the included wine does not include Ethiopian honey wine. Bummer. Service is a little slow, but all in all not too bad. I've noticed very similar service with other Ethiopian restaurants in the past except that the waitress was very pleasant and cordial. We are pretty sure one of the items we ordered was not actually served to us though. Since what was served was pretty yummy, it wasn't too much of a biggie. The restaurant itself was freezing when we walked in. Obviously trying to save on some money there. However, once we started in on the wine and food, we quickly warmed up! Food was excellent. We had the items served family style. What I liked most about this place were the plentiful vegetarian choices, including lots of vegetarian combos. We mostly eat vegetarian these days so it was perfect for us. Some of the vegetarian dishes included ones we were unfamiliar with too. We gave the samosas to the kids so no comment on those (kids enjoyed them though). The vegetarian items were all delicious. One of my favorites was a carrot and green bean stew that was incredibly flavorful and of course the lentil stew with berbere. What I liked most about this food was that it seemed a lot less greasy and oily than usual. There were no tell tale oil residues on the teff bread served underneath. Only negative I can think of was that the dishes were mildly spiced for the most part. I am used to Ethiopian food being quite spicy. However, it worked out because my son was able to eat quite a few of the dishes and he loved them despite their vegetable content. Since it had been a while since we had eaten Ethiopian, we stuffed ourselves silly. We were naughty and tried some of the tiramisu dessert (ordered for the kids). Surprisingly very good tiramisu although obviously not a traditional Ethiopian dessert. read more

I have mixed feelings about my experience. Things I loved: They serve Addis tea with spices which is so hard to find outside of Ethiopia! I also really liked their vegetarian sambussa and salad. They also had great ambiance and good ethiopian music playing. The injera was great. Things I didn't love: The doro wot (chicken), mesir wot (red lentil), and kik aliche (split pea) were not very good. They lacked in robust good flavor and the veggie dishes were really runny which made it hard to pick up with the injera. It took a while to get the waiter's attention and I ordered a second salad which didn't come until we were all finished. read more

I haven't been here in a few months but I've been dying to take my family there next time. I love this restie. Been to the Blue Nile, but this place I think has better service. They are very good to recommend the yummies and pay attention when the injera runs low. The combo with lentils, split peas (warm and cold) in savory sauce and salad was really tasty especially when eaten with fingers. Honey wine was good-I didn't think it was too sweet. This is a simple, straight forward place so if you are looking for more exotic ambiance head to the BN. If you want good service and good food in a relaxed vibe then try out Ethiopia Restaurant. There's a reason it's been around for almost 30 (?) years! read more

I came here last night with my sister and our +1s Unrelated to the review, can someone explain why Ethiopian food seems to be the only African food that seems to be available in the US? Anyone? Anyways, I've had Ethiopian food several times before and never particularly cared for it. Last night was a huge wonderful surprise though! We ordered the honey wine, which was really delicious and somehow 12% alcohol... mmm went down too easily. Very sweet though. We got everything family style and man was it wonderful #2 - vegetarian combo, the mushroom stew is wonderful, although I liked all the other stuff (fava beans added a nice counter to all the salty and spicy other stuff) #13? I forget, a spicy chicken that had a loving kick of flavoring IN YOUR FACE. In a really good way #21 Banatu (I think) this was what she recommended when we wanted a spicy beef dish, it came out all sizzle-y and saucy... just like how I like my... uh, yea. This was so good, I tried to make an ubantu joke and failed. #14? crap, I think just making numbers up. Sorry, another yummy beef dish though! the bread here is what really was memorable to me. They come in big thick rolls -- they look like ace bandages. They were spongy and delicious. I think they expanded in my tummy. What i particularly liked about them in comparison to other restaurants was that it wasn't over poweringly sour. *thumbs up* We were all really stuffed (and kept eating) and then we were gonna 'splode. We couldn't stop eating though. hmm Oh, the decor was nice, I sat next to a fire place which was toasty and made me happy. And the service was SUPER SUPER SUPER. She was really sweet, very attentive, and she gave us great recommendations. I wanted to hug her! She included the tip on the bill (because we used a coupon) but Kat and I each gave her additional 3 dollars for just being SO AWESOME. I'll definitely come back here! A group of 4 was perfect, a nice variety but not overwhelming either. read more

not recommended, there are a lot of other ethiopian restaurants in Berkeley/Oakland more worth your time. If you're just over getting menus handed to you, and would rather have your waitress throw the menus down on the table as she walks away before you even sit down at your table, then you're in luck. They do that here, and more! I'm almost embarrassed for this place because the service was so bad/slow. I probably could have gone out, bought an Ethiopian cookbook, cooked it myself, and eaten it all by the time our food came out. Which, by the way, was followed 30 minutes later by our beer. Wow, this is the first time ever that our beer came out 2 hours after we ordered it. I guess there is a first for everything. How hard is it to take a beer out of the fridge? I guess they just wanted it to ferment THAT much longer so it would taste better and have more alcohol content? That's very thoughtful.... We asked for a to-go box, and the response was "let me see if we have anymore". lol? Again, I guess there's a first for everything. The food was alright, a little under-seasoned, nothing too majorly mind-blowing. Maybe their tactic is to make us wait so long for our food that we're even more hungry when it finally comes out. read more

We used a Groupon deal also. Made a reservation for 7 pm but we got there at 6:30pm. No big deal--we were seated right away. Service was somewhat lackadaisical, but fine. Perhaps English isn't spoken very well. That's fine, too. We found the food portions to be very generous. The spice level of the doro wat, beef dish, and red lentils was perfect (SPICY!). My only complaint was that the veggie part of our meal was room temperature/on the cold side. I have a feeling these were leftovers from the buffet. We had a nice slice of tiramisu for dessert. There are SO MANY Ethiopian restaurants it's almost funny. We'll probably keep to our usual in Oakland. With Groupon our bill was $4.08. Weird....how do they stay in business? read more

The food here is excellent. Hands down, among the best in the Oakland area. However, if you come here, be prepared to 'deal' with wait staff errors and slowness: They consistently gets orders incorrect, don't always serve portions that seem the right size (two of our dishes last night were pidly), and are often working at a snails pace (last night with about 5 tables and it took about an hour to get our meal). Most egregious was our interaction with waitress: When our Kitfo arrived well done, after we ordered it rare,we requested the item be brought to us way we ordered it. Note: This mistake of coming well done when ordered rare has happened on at least a couple of occasions, and i've brought it up to the owner who has never done anything bout it. So, in the middle of my group eating other things on the platter, the waitress leaned in with her spoon, and started taking the well done kitfo off our platter. It was completely invasive and unexpected. We weren't happy about that at all. SO: Fantastic food. Terrible customer service. read more

Over cooked, over seasoned, stale injera, terrible service, disgusting tables, hair in the food, this place is an offense to everything that cuisine should be. They obviously do not care at all about their food. Spend your money somewhere els. They don't deserve it. read more

Having found a Groupon for this place, my SO and I decided to give it a try. What a wonderful find! The bread was great. Not really rubbery, very light actually. We needed the bread to eat our dinner, since you don't get silverware! What fun! The coupon gave us a shared appetizer, two entrees, a shared dessert and each a glass of Honey Wine. Oh the wine! It was a surprise and we bought a bottle to take home. It's made in Oakland which makes more brownie points since we like to support local business'. Each course came out perfectly timed. We don't wolf down our food and our waitress seemed to keep an eye out for us without interfering too much. We had our privacy and we were waited on. The food was so good! We did the traditional meal choosing #4 Filsetta. We also chose Doro We't which is two huge drumsticks in what we would consider to be a spicy barbecue sauce with a hard boiled egg. Cheesecake for dessert. We had to go for a walk to get back to right. Not that we felt over full. But a food coma was coming on and we didn't want to end our evening just yet. They have a large dinning room and a banquet room as well. Delicious food and wonderful service. The coupon kept the price down to earth. It is expensive for our budget but Groupon solved that problem. Will go back. Probably a lot! That chicken dish is scrumptious! read more

I have been here several times, for lunch and dinner. Most recently, I went with a party of four to use a Groupon-- sadly it took a little monetary incentive to get me in the mood to trek a little more south than usual, but I was so glad to be reintroduced to the delicious food here! Even though I typically hang out north of University these days, I will definitely be returning soon! Our Groupon came with two appetizers, four entrees, four glasses of wine, and two desserts (really solid deal, by the way). For appetizers we had one order of Samboussa with lentil and one with meat. Both were very good. I preferred the lentil, because I happen to love lentils and am not typically so fond of ground beef. But as I said, both were delicious little triangle pillows of crunchy goodness! We all agreed the red sauce that they came with added a welcome kick. For entrees, we were offered the choice to either order separately or have the food come in one big, family style platter. We chose to have our own plates pre-dished up, but for future reference family style sounds fun. Three of us picked out veggie combinations, and one of us got the T'ibs. All of the veggie selections were amazing, as was the T'ibs (braised beef). Favorites of the evening were Atkilt We't (zucchini and carrots), Tekil Gomen (cabbage and potato) and Kinche (bulgur). My boyfriend and I also really liked the Engudai We't (mushroom stew) and the Yemisir We't (red lentil), but our companions with low spice tolerance found them to be a little too hot. My personal favorite remains the Atkilt We't, which is a little sweet and little savory...hard to describe, but I would happily eat a combo that consisted only of Atkilt We't, Atkilt We't, with a side of Atkilt We't. And wrapped in a bite size pillow of injera...Heaven!! Dessert was baklava! 'Twas good. For drinks we got the honey wine. It was very sweet and I could hardly believe I was drinking alcohol. At the same time, not too cloying. Our server was funny in a good way--- she laughed as she asked to see my ID and said she couldn't believe I was a day older than 16.... *blush* Ohhh, stop it you! Additionally, she was very nice about refilling our injera basket. I felt like we were really burning through it, so I was 're-using' injera scoops to maximize my eating potential...when she saw this she quickly brought out a new basket with a huge smile. Yay. That being said, I think we ended up filling ourselves with injera so that we had quite a large amount of food to take home for leftovers. Things I've learned: Ethiopian food makes awesome leftovers! I will be back soon for supreme yumminess that I can eat with my hands in a socially sanctioned way! read more

YUMMY! The best Ethiopian in the Bay. The decor leaves a little left to be desired but the food is amazing. 12/6/06 UPDATE: I recently visited Ethiopia and was pleasantly surprised by the remodel (paint, hardwood floors and new ambient lighting). As always the food and service is outstanding. read more

I was pleased by how easy this restaurant was to find, and how much easier it was to find parking than a lot of the other places I've been. Ambience was good too, considering my favorite Ethiopian restaurant has a sweeping view of Motel 6 - eating here was just like eating at a friend's house. Food wise....The place has the best sambussas I've ever had. My mom and I ordered the Veggie Combination and the Meat Combination, which turned out to be the perfect amount of food for the both of us. Only complaint was the texture of the injera...... maybe I am spoiled by how soft and moist it is at Queen of Sheba, but something about the injera here struck me as stiff and possibly borderline stale? I don't know what injera tastes like when it's stale, because it tasted the same but didn't feel the same.... Well, I'm not dead yet so hopefully it was just a matter of preparation. I'd totally come back, but with different company. read more

This is one of the first places I tried Ethiopian food, and while it is still not my favorite cuisine - the food here (and the Injera - which can make or break the meal) was very tasty. Also we had great service and they were willing to explain to us "newbies" what everything was. I still kinda feel like Ethiopian and Food is a bit on an oxymoron. The stews (We't) are good and the raw meat - although scary in concept) was actually spiced really well. If you don't do spicy ASK about everything before you order. Some dishes are really HOT. read more

Pretty darn tasty. Favorites were the potato and cabbage, samboussa (meat), chicken (on the bone) and lamb. Injera's pretty good as well. I also tried the kitfo -- a spicy beef -- both rare and cooked. The meat had a close to ground consistency so I wasn't super crazy about the raw version (spicy flavor, however, was decent). But upon trying the cooked version, I decided I liked the raw one better. I'd say if you're going to try this, get the raw one; the cooked one is really pointless to get IMHO (tough texture, lacking in flavor). The major plus is how nice the service is here. The chef came out to ask how we enjoyed our food, too! This stretch of Telegraph has a smorgasborg of Ethiopian / Eritrean / etc. offerings. Here's my list of preferences, including one I've already yelped on: 1. Massawa (in SF) 2. Cafe Colucci 3. Blue Nile (I think closed now) 4. Ethiopia 5. Addis Just a side observation -- remember, like, in the early '90s when you'd go to an Indian restaurant, and it would totally be empty? That's typical of my experiences in going to Ethiopian / Eritrean restaurant to date. Not sure why, since the food is heavenly and packs such different flavors than other types of cuisines. As in the way of Indian and other ethnic cuisine, surely, the days of haute / citified Ethiopian are not far behind? read more

Excellent--best I've had in the Bay Area. Great selection and super affordable. The vegetarian platter was so damn good we had to order a second one. And, the service was great. We were a big group, and in a huge rush, and the waitstaff was very accommodating. Now, that, is rare. read more

I came here with my husband and a Groupon, which included a samboussa appetizer, 2 entrees, 2 glasses of honey wine, and a dessert. The samboussa appetizer was my favorite item. It's similar to the Indian samosa, filled with lentils. I thought it was extremely tasty, and told my husband that I would be happy to just eat several orders of the samboussa for dinner. For our entrees, we got a lamb stew and the vegetarian sampler. Both were good, though I thought the items in the sampler were varied in quality and consistency. I really enjoyed the green beans/yams, as well as the lentils. The mushroom stew was a little too intense for my taste (really strong chili flavor), and the collard greens weren't great. Everything was served on injera, with an extra basket to share. Each dish costs a little over $10. The veggie sampler was worth the price, but I felt that the lamb stew should have been bigger. The honey wine is yummy - it's a dessert wine, similar to moscato, but with a honey aftertaste. Since the Groupon came with dessert, we ordered baklava. It was SO TINY, almost bite-sized. The other dessert options weren't very enticing - I definitely wouldn't pay to get dessert here. It was a novel experience for us and, overall, I enjoyed the food. However, I wouldn't go out of my way to dine here; I would probably only return if a friend or guest wanted to check it out. Actually, I take that back - I would return for some samboussas to-go! read more

I tried this place on a random whim because I wanted to go to the Blue Nile, but it was closed that day. I was pleasantly surprised by my experience here, and I would definitely go again, perhaps even in favor of Blue Nile. It's sort of a pretty big restaurant for that area of Berkeley - there isn't much foot traffic and unless you live around there or are targetting a specific restaurant, it's unlikely you would dine there. So I was surprised that restaurant could probably seat about 80-100 people (apparently there's an outdoor patio which would be nice on a warm evening). The service was excellent, and the food was very good. the vegetarian combination was great, but the meat combination was just okay. I expect some of the other non-combination meat choices would be better. I hadn't had ethiopian for a while so I forgot just how filling it can be, so it's a really good deal in the end. We ordered those two combos to split between 2 people, but we had plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day. All for just around 30 bucks with alcohol included. A couple things could be improved upon, i think - or at least compared unfavorably with the Blue Nile. The decor of the place is so pedestrian compared to the Blue Nile. so if you want that more "exotic" or "authentic" look to an Ethiopian restaurant, go to Blue Nile. Also, the honey wine was way too sweet. those were the main minuses of the place - well, only the wine, really. but all in all, I would recommend this place if you're looking for a tasty, filling and pretty cheap meal around Berkeley. read more

The food is sooo good. Top notch. Would recommend. And plenty of Injera to go around! Lamb and red lentils were the table favs

Sooooo yummmmy!!! We got a mix of vegetarian dishes (tons of veggie options - they claim 792 possible veggie combinations - didn't do the math to check) served family style. Very flavorful, right amout of spice, interesting flavor combinations. One note: they have (temporarily?) lost their liquor license - but they still have all these ads for ethipian beer all over the place...and they would have so delighfully complimented the dishes we were having...so very sad. Had flax seed juice instead - surprisingly good -imagine sweet ground-up, grainy cereal...had a nice homey smell of bread/cereal...mmmmm. read more

Came here for for what te restaurant advertises: the 6.99 vegetarian buffet. The setting was authentic. Felt like being in Africa even though I've never been there! The presentation of the food wasn't awesome, and I'd consider dropping half a star for this, but the quality of the buffet led me to give this place 5 stars. The buffet was mainly varieties of lentils. Some cold some hot. The lentils were all made with complex, hearty, and intense flavors. The carrot dish was sweet and tasty, too. The best part about this restaurant is that the buffet is all you can eat. For 7 bucks, I had over three heaping plates of food. Whole Foods across the street charges $8.50 per pound - I would have paid well over thirty dollars for my lunch! And I was full the whole day after this high fiber and extremely nutritious and not greasy meal. I recommend researching a Ethiopian food before coming. It's not written what's being served (but you can ask), but become familiar with this kind of food. Read about the bread "injera" and types of lentil dishes. Enjoy and bring friends! The restaurant's courtyard is a calm and wonderful place to have lunch! read more

We went here with the Groupon deal (see others what you can get with Groupon) Very slow and bad service: looked around for 5mins inside the restaurant to see "someone" who can give us a table. Wait for a box (was a lot of food) for more than 10mins. Wait for the non-homemade dessert for 10mins. No water served for us, so we brought from our car. Decent food but don't order dessert (alert!!): choice of veggie combo and meat combo wasn't bad. Flavorful but not surprised. The bread was not fermented almost at all instead baking powder was used (according to my pastry chef boyfriend) Their dessert was awful. Non of desserts are homemade so don't order even. Here comes something disgusting: you may want to close your eyes when you are washing your hands. There are mushrooms growing at the sink. It maybe better than molds but you don't want to see them at restaurants' restroom. We brought the leftover home but we couldn't open the box after we saw that mushrooms..... read more

My spouse and I ate at this restaurant today. We had a double version of the vegetarian sampler. Almost every dish had some distinctive difference that set this restaurant a bit above other Eithiopian restaurants we've tried. The dark greens had a dash more vinegar giving it a kind of "soul food" flavor. The carrots and string beans used long pieces of carrots with a wonderful texture reminding me of a cross between carrots and sweet potatoes. The red lentil dish (yemisir we't) was spicy hot yet well-rounded. The yellow split pea dish (yekik alicha) was the only part of the meal that didn't stand above similar versions yet was as delicious as any we've tasted. I think I like my injira more on the thin side, but my wife liked this version very much. We'll be back! read more

I feel obligated to mention that this is my first Ethiopian experience and that I haven't quite decided if it's my "thing" yet. Food: I had the Soumassa appitizer, Shiroye, Shrimp Tibs and the Banatu. Yes, quite a bit of food for just two - albeit two men, but I had a gift certificate requiring a minimum purchase and I'm glad I was able to sample at least three dishes on my first Ethiopian dining. The only thing I can really speak to is the quality and not necessarily the taste. My friend really enjoyed his meal, and at the very least I can say the dishes were prepared well and came out piping hot. Portions were generous. Service: Other than the fact the waitress asked how the food was EVERY time she passed by, I had a very pleasant experience with the service. Oh, and the server didn't make me feel bad for have a groupon-esque gift cert. Venue: Nice. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how spacious the place was when I walked in. The storefront doesn't do the place justice. Though I'm not a big fan of Ethiopian yet, this place has sparked significant interest. read more

We came her with a groupon to try and was quite pleased. Service was good ad prices without the groupon I think are very reasonable! The portions are right even for a small dinner for two, considering Ethiopian food typically is really for larger parties of 4 or more it seems. Will definately come again when craving it! ***** We also came here on a Friday for the vegetarian buffet. It was pretty sad as when we came in there was n I be in site. Just one employee and a buffet in the back. Very sad sm all buffet, but once we started digging in, it was alright. Because of the bold favors, it Definately. Satisfied my carvings for Ethiopian. Not bad at all. read more

Giving this place one star because service was horribly bad. We came here on a Friday night but it wasn't busy at all, there were only three tables including us. We were seated and given the menu and maybe like five minutes later we already knew what we wanted. there was only one waitress but she was at another table for like ten minutes (mainly because they had a lot of questions) and we gave her time to give their orders to the kitchen. So when we came back, we looked at her like we were ready to order and she just stares at us for a bit and walks around. So when she passed again we told her we were ready to order and she goes like okay, but she doesn't ask us for our order. Instead she disappears to the kitchen for like five full minutes and when she comes out she doesn't even have her order pad with her. Then we called her again to tell her we would like to order but she just glances at us and refills water for other tables even though they didn't even have their food yet. and then she disappears again to the kitchen for another five minutes. Then she takes some food to the other table and we call her again saying we want to order and then she starts cleaning for no reason. And we've already been at Place for 20 minutes and telling her several times we would like to order. We waited to give her another chance but she disappeared once again to the kitchen for another 5-10 minutes. We finally left because we had wasted 35-40 minutes waiting there when it wasn't even busy! It was very slow. We were disappointed with her bad service and we left to go to go to the other Ethiopian restaurant down the street. WORST waitress ever. HOWEVER, have heard that the food here does taste good though so I may give it another chance so that this review could be legit and I haven't actually tasted the food but they really need to get their priorities straight and improve on service. Also maybe they could add music to the restaurant to give it a better atmosphere; it was very silent and a little awkward. read more

I absolutely love Ethiopian food and have been craving it nonstop for the past few months. I decided to visit Ethiopia Restaurant due to the reviews on Yelp, but I have to say that I was extremely let down by the service. - The injera was stale, dry, and burnt - I ordered a lamb dish that came out on a piping hot iron plate. The server pointed the iron plate in the direction of my face, and since the plate was so hot, oil spattered on my face three times. Not only did the server not notice that I was madly trying to dodge the oil spatters from my face, she did not know proper etiquette to serving food. - They forgot our beer order after being reminded twice, then tried to charge us for it on the bill - The tiramisu was still frozen when it came to the table WTF. This makes me furious!!! read more

Came here for a groupon deal. We had the samboussa appetizer. A veggie and a meat combo. Honey wine. And baclava as dessert. It was my first time trying Ethiopian food. Food wise, 3.5 stars. Everything was pretty good, except this one item in the veggie combo, I think it's the split peas one (yellowish). Not a fan of the honey wine because it's way too sweet for me. But that's just my preference. Service was not good. I'd give it 2 stars. It was super slow. I understand that there were only 2 waitresses for the 8 or so tables, but it was still too slow with that in consideration. I ordered a Harar lager (Ethiopian beer) halfway through my meal and either the waitress forgot, or she was just super slow at bringing out orders. Because I did not get it until I was almost done w my meal. I actually wanted to cancel it but she misunderstood and brought it out...sigh...no big deal, they are lucky that I really like beer. Not sure if I'll be back, definitely not if the service and environment improves. read more

This place made me fall in love with Ethiopian food. Come with a small group and share number 1 which is a Vegetarian choice combo (you can choose 5 out of about 12 choices) and 2-3 meat dishes. They serve it on their spongey sour roll (injera). Consider ordering some of the wine if you like sweet wines--it tastes similar to Moscato. My favorite vegetarian dish was the red lentil! Splitting with a group of 4-6 will fill you up for under 20 bucks and you get to try a lot on their menu. read more

We have eaten here about 6 to 10 times and every time has been a successful adventure. At first we stayed with the meat and vegetarian assortments. One order of each was a feast for the two of us. Everything was very tasty and gave us a good introduction to this cuisine. Now, we have moved on to ordering one entree each and had them served family style, so we can share. Generally, we select a chicken, beef, lamb, or seafood item, but occasionally a vegetarian item. We like trying the various sauces. We have enjoyed them all. I am getting hungry, just thinking about the food. The injera is mild, soft and of good texture. The atmosphere is cozy and the waitresses have been friendly and helpful. We have not experienced slow service, as others have written. No complaints from us. This is a great place to share a meal with friends. read more

The restaurant had a nice and cozy feel to it. It was my first time trying Ethiopian food ... I definitely feel like I ordered the wrong thing I was not excited about my food. There was only one waitress and she was definitely over worked therefore she did not provide the best customer service had to wait extended amount of time just for water the restaurant was not busy when we went but she was trying her best. When I got my food there was a hair in the injera that definitely turned me off. read more

"What's Ethiopian food?" Same question I had before going here. I'm down for exploring new cuisines so I went with my roomie and his girlfriend who had been here before. Rokay! So some pretext, wash your hands, because you'll be eating with them, communally. So be a friend (to yourself if anything) and let your other party members know they should wash their hands too :). +++ FOOD Almost everything here is $10.95 straight up so all else equal, choose what meats you like. They have grilled/sauteed and stewed options of beef, chicken, and lamb. Vegetarian options as well. With so many choices, how does one decide? Well luckily, that's why you're here right? The food is all served communally a big piece of injera (flat like a tortilla, spongy texture like a... sponge, tastes like sourdough) and a basket of injera is included as well, more on this below. Other items on this plate are a salad and spicy chutney Similar to Indian food, you'll be using the injera to pick up your food with your hands kinda like a blanket. The food is all piled on into this plate. This is why you want to wash your hands and also tell other people to wash their hands. We don't want no food ridin' dirty, if you know what I mean. Grilled/Sauteed - This is my pick, with chicken and lamb being the meats. It comes as cut up cubes of meat. It tastes like grilled meat + onions and peppers. Not too special, but the combination of injera and this meat is tasty. Stewed - I would have liked this better if the meat was prepared differently. I was expecting some real stew to be plopped onto the plate, but we got 2 drumsticks with some stew-like sauce substance. The stew sauce and chicken was good in itself, but it's just that the chicken was hard to take off the bone with injera and was not cubed so it proved difficult to eat. +++ VERDICT Service is a little slow, but that's because there's only one waiter. The place is small and quaint, so I guess I can give them a break. Food is tasty, and experience is fun, but tastes sorta normal after the initial tasting. Injera is awesome if you've never had it before though Sourdough tortilla sponge thing? Awesome. Fun for a little get-together if you want to have an experience eating. read more

I'd go back: A) If I were invited B) If my company were paying for it C) If someone said "puhllllleeze, lets try this restaurant" We had the beef stew and spicy chicken - we were assured it was so spicy we would cough after each bite. Not true - it tasted more like chicken sauteed in a marinara type sauce. It's definitely an experience due to the fact that your food is served communually - so all food comes out on one big plate and everyone helps themselves with their injera laden fingers to bites of food. I had the smell of spices stuck underneath my fingernails for three days - and actually, it didnt smell that bad. HUH? I mean, the food was good but certainly not my new favorite or even something I would seek out soon. I thought the injera (traditional Ethiopian bread) for scooping was awesome, but I've never had it before so I really don't know any better. The reason for three stars only on food that is good is the gas that myself and my lunch partner have experienced for the past two days - what the hell, will someone tell me, is up with that? Dayum, I could light up a damn symphony - and, that blows!!!! Literally. read more

Worse Ethiopian restaurant. The raw meat was spoiled and made me sick, I need to stop by at emergency room for food poisoning. The service was very bad, the manager was no manners. The food is awful and the service worst. Food is not fresh, the restaurant is dirty. I will never go back to this restaurant. I think we need to call the health dept. to check the sanitary of this restaurant. read more

This was an excellent place to eat. The people were very nice and very personable. It felt more like I was at a dinner party with delicious food. The place is neat, clean and the food is AMAZING! Treat yourself to delicious food, great prices and a wonderful experience! I give the "Ethiopia" Restaurant, the best recommendation possible! OOOOOOH YUMMY! I can't wait to go back! read more